Because of the eternal blue dome hanging over endless steppes, from the ancient times Mongols refer to their motherland as "Blue Mongolia." Because of the nomadic lifestyle, closely intertwined with the natural environment, Mongols have developed deep traditions of reverence to The Heaven, as their main protector. Even nowadays, old women will splash into air at the morning dawn a bit of freshly brewed tea with milk as an offering to the Blue Sky and the Mother Nature.
Mongolia, more known outside as Outer Mongolia, is located in the heart of Central Asia, sandwiched between the two superpowers: China and Russia.
It has the population of only 2.7 million people living sparsely over the territory of 1,566,500 sq. km, or equal to half of Europe.
A close ally of the former Soviet Union for last seven decades, Mongolia embarked in 1990 the road of democratic and political reforms and now is slowly opening up to the outside world.
Population
The country's population is about 2.7 million. Started some twelve centuries ago as 300,000 strong union of several nomadic tribes, by the turn of XX century Mongols numbered only half a million.
During seven decades of communism, the population quadrupled, especially after the "baby boom" of 60s, mostly to the improvement of health care and education systems with the Soviet assistance.
Presently, children and youth under 35 make up 70 percent of the population and the average age is 21 year. Out of the 2.7 million population about half lives in cities and towns, while the remaining 47 percent still live nomad lifestyle.
Education
Thanks to the decades of socialism, Mongolia boasts 97 percent literacy rate. Back in mid 70s, Mongolia was even awarded a UNESCO Golden Medal for successes in educating the population. Presently more than 500,000 pupils attend 660 secondary schools and another 140,000 students attend 198 state and private Universities and colleges.
Mongolian Script
Though Mongols developed own script way back in 13th century, some 50 years ago it was banned and the Russian Cyrillic alphabet imposed as the official script. After the Democratic Revolution of 1990, the Parliament decided to return the old script back into use as a main precondition for preserving the traditional culture and national identity.
The old script, written vertically from up to down, is being taught currently in all secondary schools since 1994, but now only 30 percent of Mongols can write, while another 50 percent can read it. See related story.
Capital city
Ulaanbaatar , or Red Hero, is the capital of Mongolia , main center of politics, business and finance, culture and science. About half of the country's population, or 1.2 million people live now in the capital city. The capital city offers a range of tourist attractions such as museums and monasteries as well as quite modern services. It is the main gateway for foreign tourists whom we advise to spend a day to explore the city.
Religion
Mongolia used to be the second, after Tibet , stronghold of Buddhist religion. In the turn of 20th century each and every family was obliged to send one of their children to a monastery to become monk. .
However, with the arrival of Communists in 20s, the religion was severely repressed, and all but one monastery destroyed. More than 30,000 monks and priests were executed and another 70,000 exiled or imprisoned. In seven decades Buddhism was almost eradicated, but the liberalization of 1990 allowed its peaceful revival. Now more than 140 Buddhist monasteries have been set up anew.
Under this newly found freedom of belief, other religions flocked in, including more than 30, mostly Christian, churches and cults. Another popular religion is Islam practiced by a 60,000 strong Kazakh minority in Bayan Ulgii province.
Nomads
Only about 40 percent of the population continue to live traditional nomadic lifestyle tending more than 28 million livestock. Animal husbandry remains a backbone of the national economy, providing 20 percent of the world's cashmere production.
The nomads' life changed very little since old days, except that nomadic herders prefer to use sometimes motorbikes or "iron horses" rather than live ones.
Mongolia remains the last refuge of the pastoral nomadism, preserving and continuing the traditional cultural heritage of the many nomadic nations that once flourished on the present day territory of Mongolia .
Climate
"The climate in Mongolia is full of extremes. Sudden changes from heat to cold, from summer to winter are amazing and hard to bear..." wrote Roy Chapman Andrews, an American paleontologist who ventured to wilderness of the Gobi Desert back in 20s. Indeed, temperatures may fall by 30 degrees not only in a season but also within a fortnight.
Distance from seas and considerable elevation over the sea level makes the climate very dry. Mongolia lies right between the southern edge of eternal glaciers and northernmost boundaries of deserts.
Winter lasts from November to March, with temperatures dropping down to ?30 Celsius. Mongols speak about 멞ine nines?or 81 days when it is cold. The coldest period falls on middle 뱓hree nines?or from mid December to January.
However, given the dry climate ?20 in Mongolia would be equal to ?10 in London or New York . If there is no wind, which penetrates beneath any winter jacket, winter in Mongolia is rather mild.
Mongolia is a sunny country with 260 days of sunlight.
Mountains
Mongolia resides on a high mountainous plateau some 1,580 meters above the sea level. Altai, Hangai, Hentii and Hiangan mountain ranges that shield away humid, warm air flows from Atlantic and Pacific Oceans fence the country around. Mountains make up 42,5 percent of the territory. The highest peak is Tavan Bogd Mountain in Western Mongolia with 4374 meters above the sea level. Other peaks high range from 3,500 - 4,000 meters.
Gobi Desert
The Gobi Desert occupies more than 400,200 sq. km of the South Mongolia. Though popular perception of deserts is that of endless sand dunes, only three percent of the Gobi Desert are actually covered by sands, the rest made of rocky mountains and valleys. It is not rare to come across a small salty pond or bushes. The desert ecosystem supports goats and camels and such rare animals as snow leopard, ibex, wild sheep and goats, wild horse and antelopes. Even about two dozens of bears, known as Mazaalai bear, found a niche in Gobi Desert.
Gobi Desert is also known as a graveyard of dinosaurs. From here Andrews's expedition extracted back in 20s most rare artifacts now making now the pride of the exhibition at New York Museum of Natural History.
Lakes
There are more than 4,000 lakes in Mongolia , with the most beautiful one, Huvsgul Lake , in the northwest. Known as a sister lake of Baikal Lake in Siberia , the lake is surrounded by alpine mountain ranges covered with dense taiga forest. The lake has 2,621 sq. km of total area and 238 meters deep. From ancient times it enjoyed special reverence of locals who called her The Mother Sea.
Another largest lake is Uvs Lake located in the valley of big lakes. It is 84 km long and 79 km wide. Surprisingly, it has salty water and even a small colony of sea gulls settled there.
Great Plains
Great Eastern Plains is the lowest part of the country. Endless stretches of low hills serve as the ideal pasture for half a million antelopes. Dzeren antelopes grazing in thousands all over the place makes the biggest attraction of this wild steppe stretches.
